That said, I encourage you to look into the blizzard lawsuit against WoW server emulator makers[1] or the Nintendo lawsuit against Switch emulators[2]. Both cases where teams have built software equivalent to copyrighted products without the direct use of copyrighted assets, but who were nevertheless found to have violated some aspect of IP law. I am not a lawyer and I can't say what would have happened if Atari were to bring such a suit against the OpenTTD project, but I can say with certainty that whatever the outcome it would have disrupted the project and cost an enormous amount. The combination of the IP laws in the US and the realities of our court system mean that the underlying truth often matters less than the burdens of defending yourself against accusations. Atari certainly could be dragging the OpenTTD project through court right now - but they are not and that's good for the project and all of us who have uninterrupted access to OpenTTD.

If you're interested in having an actual discussion please bring some effort to this exchange. What is preventing Atari from dragging OpenTTD through the courts? What is an example of a project fending off a lawsuit from an owner of related IP? How did they do it and why would the OpenTTD project be in that position as opposed to a position such as the ones I've outlined?

[1] https://www.tweaktown.com/news/107476/blizzard-sues-turtle-w...

[2] https://www.polygon.com/24090351/nintendo-2-4-million-yuzu-s...